The present invention relates to an apparatus for assembling a vehicle safety restraint, particularly a seatbelt.
A seatbelt system generally comprises a single piece of elongate webbing fixed at three points so that it passes across both the lap and diagonally across the torso a vehicle occupant. The seatbelt is fixed to the vehicle chassis on each side of the seat and is fixed to the side of the vehicle above the vehicle occupant""s shoulder, usually to a load-bearing pillar of the vehicle known in the industry as the xe2x80x9cB-pillarxe2x80x9d. To provide flexibility at the fixing point and allow the belt to adapt to different sizes and shapes of vehicle occupants, the webbing is fixed to the B-pillar by a pivotally mounted bracket known as a sill-end bracket. The sill end bracket is sometimes referred to as a D-ring because it has a shape reminiscent of a side oriented letter xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d. The webbing passes through a slit-shaped hole in the sill-end bracket (D-ring) and over a generally horizontal bar formed by the vertical line of the xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d. The sill-end bracket is mounted to the vehicle by a bolt that allows the bracket to pivot to set the webbing at the correct orientation for the vehicle occupant being restrained without twisting or pinching the webbing.
On the assembly line the webbing and sill-end bracket (D-ring) must be assembled together by passing the webbing through the hole in the bracket. Traditionally this is done manually and there is considerable waste due to operator error since the operation is difficult. It is desired to increase the speed and efficiency of the assembly line.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for assembling seatbelt webbing with a sill-end bracket, the apparatus comprising: a form feeding member having a tapered channel for receiving one end of a length of seat belt ebbing on an assembly line; a webbing pull-through member having means for engaging one end of the webbing; a support for the sill-end bracket; and a bracket sensor for sensing the presence of the sill-end bracket at a correct position in the bracket support.
Preferably the apparatus further comprises means responsive to a signal from the sensor indicating the correct positioning of the sill-end bracket.
Means are also provided for driving the webbing into the tapered channel, preferably so that said one end is located at a predetermined position, relative to the form-feeding member. There may also be provided means for activating the pull-through member to engage the webbing and to drive the pull-through member back.
Preferably the pull-through member is associated with a sensor for sensing when the pull-through member is at a predetermined position dependent on the required webbing fold-over length.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a method for assembling seatbelt webbing with an opening in a sill-end bracket comprises the steps of: placing the sill-end bracket in a bracket support; feeding a webbing pull-through member through an opening in the sill-end bracket; driving one end of a length of seat belt webbing into the wide part of a tapered channel of a feeding member; sensing when the webbing is at a predetermined position; activating the pull-through member to engage the end of the webbing; pulling the pull-through member back, through the sill-end bracket to pull the webbing through the form feeding member channel and through the sill-end bracket. Preferably, it is pulled back to a predetermined position, sensed by a sensor and arranged in dependence of the required webbing fold-over length.
An apparatus and method according to the present invention can ensure that the sill-end of the webbing is in the correct position and orientation, and that the webbing fold-over is in the correct orientation of the desired length and of the required fold-over form. Preferably the whole operation is automated but many of the steps can be performed manually with an improvement in efficiency nonetheless. The number of operators on the assembly line may be reduced and operator errors can be substantially reduced or even eliminated. Thus speed and efficiency of the assembly line may be of enhanced and the resulting product of a more consistently reliable quality.